February 12, 2007

clothe yourselves

**I've been starting a group blog with some of my friends and I posted this a few weeks ago. I'm thinking that everyone can relate to this so I thought I'd post it here too. Plus, I'm curious to hear what other things you think we can do to clothe ourselves.***

So, I ran across this Bible verse the other day and I have to share...


"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience." Colossians 3:12 (NIV)

Okay, how many of us struggle with these character traits? I bet all of us do. I know I sure do! But God still loves us. In fact, we are "dearly loved". He knows we struggle with this or he wouldn't have sent the message that we need to act this way. You don't have to tell someone to do something they are already doing, right?

If you are anything like me, I need to break these traits down to actual actions that I can do. In the heat of the moment, if I don't have in my mind what I'm going to do, I'm sunk. So here are some of my ideas for how to put this scripture into action. Remember these are just my brainstorming ideas - I haven't done most of them yet!

Compassion - send a card to someone I know that's having a rough time, giving an encouraging word to people that come in my path, be less quick to judge someone who treats me unkindly

Kindness - put the paper from the driveway to the front porch of our elderly neighbor, pay for the meal of the person behind me at the drive-thru, look for opportunities to help people in the store, at work, etc.

Humility - hold my tongue when arguing with my husband (AKA I don't always have to be right), give all praise and honor to God when I do something well, remind myself that it's okay if someone else gets the credit for something at work

Gentleness - give more hugs to my children, make sure my tone of voice is one of love when disciplining my kids

Patience - listen to my daughter's unending chatter, sit with my son while he is on the potty instead of rushing off to do something else, count to 10 when my husband says something that really frustrates me so I don't respond in anger

Well, I think you get the idea. If you have any ideas, please share them!! And if you have any successes as to how you clothed yourself, please share that too! Let's all try to do at least three things to clothe ourselves this week. Every little thing counts! Good luck!

Lord, we come before you knowing we have sinned against you; knowing we can't clothe ourselves without your help. All that we are comes from you. Help us this week to be more like you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

1 rays through the fog:

Judith said...

Some things I'm working on are paying closer attention to what I think about people. (thank goodnesss I don't say it out loud sometimes). Discovered I'm more critical than I thought.

I am trying to talk less, and listen to others more. Someone said that's the kindest thing we can do for someone, really hear what they're trying to tell us.

 
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